Joshua Miller, E. Wald, P. Druckenmiller, Carl Simpson
Skeletal remains lying on landscape surfaces are useful for evaluating historical states of living populations, but across how much time can such resources inform management and conservation? Further, how do differences in environmental setting impact the breadth of the available timeseries? Using radiocarbon dated bones from across the globe, we evaluated the relationship between the maximum duration that bones persist on landscapes and the mean annual temperature of each locality. We found that bones can persist for several millennia in cold (high-latitude) settings and that there is a strong link (R2 > 0.9, p < 0.01) between local temperature and the logged duration of maximum bone persistence. This relationship provides an initial expectation for the duration across which skeletal remains from different settings can provide historical ecological context. Across the Holarctic, caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are the most abundant large mammal and arguably the most economically significant one for multiple human cultures, including serving as a key nutritional and cultural resource. For migratory caribou, movements between winter ranges and spring calving grounds are among the longest annual migrations of any terrestrial species and maintaining access to these areas is a top conservation priority. But how long have herds used particular calving grounds? Shed female antlers lying on the tundra provide insight into historical calving geography because they are shed within days of giving birth. Following antler surveys across the Coastal Plain calving grounds (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska) of the Porcupine Caribou Herd (PCH), we radiocarbon dated three highly weathered female antlers. Antler ages ranged between ~1,600 and >3,000 calendar years ago. These antlers provide the first physical evidence of calving activity on the PCH calving grounds from previous millennia and substantiate the long ecological legacy of the Coastal Plain as a caribou calving ground.
躺在景观表面的骨骼遗骸对评估现存种群的历史状态很有用,但这些资源能在多长时间内为管理和保护提供信息?此外,环境设置的差异如何影响可用时间序列的广度?利用来自全球各地的放射性碳定年骨骼,我们评估了骨骼在景观上存在的最长时间与每个地方的年平均温度之间的关系。我们发现骨骼可以在寒冷(高纬度)环境中持续数千年,并且在当地温度和记录的最大骨骼持续时间之间存在很强的联系(R2 > 0.9, p < 0.01)。这种关系提供了一种初步的预期,即来自不同环境的骨骼遗骸可以提供历史生态背景的持续时间。在整个北极地区,驯鹿(Rangifer tarandus)是最丰富的大型哺乳动物,可以说是多种人类文化中最具经济意义的哺乳动物,包括作为关键的营养和文化资源。对于迁徙的驯鹿来说,在冬季栖息地和春季产仔地之间的迁徙是所有陆生物种中最长的年度迁徙,保持进入这些地区的通道是保护的首要任务。但是鹿群使用特定的产犊地有多久了?躺在冻土带上的脱落的雌鹿角可以让我们深入了解历史上的产犊地理,因为它们在分娩后几天内就会脱落。在对豪猪驯鹿群(PCH)沿海平原产犊地(阿拉斯加北极国家野生动物保护区)的鹿角进行调查后,我们用放射性碳测定了三只高度风化的雌性鹿角的年代。鹿角的年龄在1600年到3000年之间。这些鹿角为数千年前PCH产犊地的产犊活动提供了第一个物理证据,并证实了沿海平原作为驯鹿产犊地的长期生态遗产。
{"title":"How Many Generations are Available for Study? Expectations and Applications of Historical Ecological Insight from Bones Lying on Modern Landscapes","authors":"Joshua Miller, E. Wald, P. Druckenmiller, Carl Simpson","doi":"10.58782/flmnh.qhui3032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.58782/flmnh.qhui3032","url":null,"abstract":"Skeletal remains lying on landscape surfaces are useful for evaluating historical states of living populations, but across how much time can such resources inform management and conservation? Further, how do differences in environmental setting impact the breadth of the available timeseries? Using radiocarbon dated bones from across the globe, we evaluated the relationship between the maximum duration that bones persist on landscapes and the mean annual temperature of each locality. We found that bones can persist for several millennia in cold (high-latitude) settings and that there is a strong link (R2 > 0.9, p < 0.01) between local temperature and the logged duration of maximum bone persistence. This relationship provides an initial expectation for the duration across which skeletal remains from different settings can provide historical ecological context. Across the Holarctic, caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are the most abundant large mammal and arguably the most economically significant one for multiple human cultures, including serving as a key nutritional and cultural resource. For migratory caribou, movements between winter ranges and spring calving grounds are among the longest annual migrations of any terrestrial species and maintaining access to these areas is a top conservation priority. But how long have herds used particular calving grounds? Shed female antlers lying on the tundra provide insight into historical calving geography because they are shed within days of giving birth. Following antler surveys across the Coastal Plain calving grounds (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska) of the Porcupine Caribou Herd (PCH), we radiocarbon dated three highly weathered female antlers. Antler ages ranged between ~1,600 and >3,000 calendar years ago. These antlers provide the first physical evidence of calving activity on the PCH calving grounds from previous millennia and substantiate the long ecological legacy of the Coastal Plain as a caribou calving ground.","PeriodicalId":106523,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134345636","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mitchell Riegler, L. Viñola, E. Steinberg, Hannah Quintal, Juan Almonte, J. Bloch
Hispaniola (Haiti & Dominican Republic (D.R.)), is the second largest island in the Caribbean and is a hotspot of squamate diversity (~184 species), yet little is known about their fossil record and how it relates to the present. Past studies on mammalian communities suggest that many rodent species go extinct after human arrival (~7,000 y.B.P.), most significantly after European colonization (~530 y.B.P.) corresponding to a rapid loss of 70-98% of original forest. Pedernales Province in the D.R., has much of its original forest cover, yet fossil squamates from this region have not been documented. Our study of Holocene dry cave fossil sites and a new archeological site located in Pedernales allows for evaluation of extinction in squamates in an area where deforestation is not a primary concern. Using dentigerous elements, several genera of squamates (Ameiva, Anolis, Celestus, Cyclura, Leiocephalus, and Geckos) were identified. We recorded their abundance at each depth, and found Anolis, Celestus, and Geckos to be the most common fossils. From this collection we discovered two new species of Celestus, a new species of Gecko, and revised the taxonomy of Leiocephalus. One of the newly identified large Celestus species, originally only known from fossils, was later discovered in a separate cave as a living specimen. These results suggest that deforestation is not the only driver of extinction in the D.R., and that even in well preserved areas, extinction of small taxa is happening. Additionally, some cryptic taxa may be unrecognized. The arrival of domesticated animals and associated pests (mice, rats, etc.), likely had a dramatic influence on these extinctions, as well as direct human predation, first reported here. Further radiocarbon and geochemical sampling of these herpetofaunal fossils will help assess why these species went extinct, and such trends can inform modern conservation efforts as to which taxa are most at risk.
{"title":"Fossil Squamates of Pedernales Province, Dominican Republic: Novel Record of Human-Induced Extinction and Extirpation","authors":"Mitchell Riegler, L. Viñola, E. Steinberg, Hannah Quintal, Juan Almonte, J. Bloch","doi":"10.58782/flmnh.fnlm5644","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.58782/flmnh.fnlm5644","url":null,"abstract":"Hispaniola (Haiti & Dominican Republic (D.R.)), is the second largest island in the Caribbean and is a hotspot of squamate diversity (~184 species), yet little is known about their fossil record and how it relates to the present. Past studies on mammalian communities suggest that many rodent species go extinct after human arrival (~7,000 y.B.P.), most significantly after European colonization (~530 y.B.P.) corresponding to a rapid loss of 70-98% of original forest. Pedernales Province in the D.R., has much of its original forest cover, yet fossil squamates from this region have not been documented. Our study of Holocene dry cave fossil sites and a new archeological site located in Pedernales allows for evaluation of extinction in squamates in an area where deforestation is not a primary concern. Using dentigerous elements, several genera of squamates (Ameiva, Anolis, Celestus, Cyclura, Leiocephalus, and Geckos) were identified. We recorded their abundance at each depth, and found Anolis, Celestus, and Geckos to be the most common fossils. From this collection we discovered two new species of Celestus, a new species of Gecko, and revised the taxonomy of Leiocephalus. One of the newly identified large Celestus species, originally only known from fossils, was later discovered in a separate cave as a living specimen. These results suggest that deforestation is not the only driver of extinction in the D.R., and that even in well preserved areas, extinction of small taxa is happening. Additionally, some cryptic taxa may be unrecognized. The arrival of domesticated animals and associated pests (mice, rats, etc.), likely had a dramatic influence on these extinctions, as well as direct human predation, first reported here. Further radiocarbon and geochemical sampling of these herpetofaunal fossils will help assess why these species went extinct, and such trends can inform modern conservation efforts as to which taxa are most at risk.","PeriodicalId":106523,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123951419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
D. Scarponi, A. Mancuso, S. Goffredo, M. Kowalewski
Anthropogenic CO2 is a major driver of change in most marine ecosystems, as the consequent ocean acidification is threatening marine calcifying organisms. In this respect, long-term analyses on ocean acidification effects on marine ecosystems acclimated to high pCO2, as found around CO2 vents, are needed. Here we tackle mollusk assemblages from acidified shallow marine settings off the Aeolian archipelago (Central Mediterranean). The detected gradient manifests along a 34 m long transect (9.6 m and 11.4 m water depth), mostly in a Posidonia oceanica matte from normal (site 1) to high levels (site 3) of pCO2 (405 μatm, pH 8.1 and 715 μatm, pH 7.8; respectively). The strongest acidified condition at the vent crater (site 4, pCO2 1110 μatm, pH 7.7). At the vent site gaseous emissions are characterized by ~99% in volume of CO2 and ~0.6% of H2S. However, water dissolved H2S was below detection limit and the sulphate content along the transect does not show significant variations with respect to normal seawater values. Preliminary paleoecologic surveys on diversity structure (diversity profiles) and taphonomic degradation (NMDS, z scored % values) were conducted on mollusk remains collected along the natural pH gradient (sites 1-4). Along the P. oceanica matte (sites 1-3), overall mollusk taxon diversity (alpha and beta) decreased, mollusk in site 3 were mostly juveniles and had higher overall taphonomic damages than those retrieved at normal pH conditions. Within the vent crater only fewer and highly taphonomically altered gastropod specimens were retrieved on the pebbly seafloor, suggesting a very short residence time of shell material and rapid dissolution. Even if vents are not exact predictors of the anthropogenic-designed future of marine settings, due to their limited spatial and temporal extent, they can act as natural laboratories where to evaluate the output of ecosystem processes under rising pCO2 and the effects on the creation of the future fossil record.
{"title":"Mollusk Response Under Ocean Acidification in Shallow Marine Settings of Sicily (Central Mediterranean)","authors":"D. Scarponi, A. Mancuso, S. Goffredo, M. Kowalewski","doi":"10.58782/flmnh.tbsm5836","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.58782/flmnh.tbsm5836","url":null,"abstract":"Anthropogenic CO2 is a major driver of change in most marine ecosystems, as the consequent ocean acidification is threatening marine calcifying organisms. In this respect, long-term analyses on ocean acidification effects on marine ecosystems acclimated to high pCO2, as found around CO2 vents, are needed. Here we tackle mollusk assemblages from acidified shallow marine settings off the Aeolian archipelago (Central Mediterranean). The detected gradient manifests along a 34 m long transect (9.6 m and 11.4 m water depth), mostly in a Posidonia oceanica matte from normal (site 1) to high levels (site 3) of pCO2 (405 μatm, pH 8.1 and 715 μatm, pH 7.8; respectively). The strongest acidified condition at the vent crater (site 4, pCO2 1110 μatm, pH 7.7). At the vent site gaseous emissions are characterized by ~99% in volume of CO2 and ~0.6% of H2S. However, water dissolved H2S was below detection limit and the sulphate content along the transect does not show significant variations with respect to normal seawater values. Preliminary paleoecologic surveys on diversity structure (diversity profiles) and taphonomic degradation (NMDS, z scored % values) were conducted on mollusk remains collected along the natural pH gradient (sites 1-4). Along the P. oceanica matte (sites 1-3), overall mollusk taxon diversity (alpha and beta) decreased, mollusk in site 3 were mostly juveniles and had higher overall taphonomic damages than those retrieved at normal pH conditions. Within the vent crater only fewer and highly taphonomically altered gastropod specimens were retrieved on the pebbly seafloor, suggesting a very short residence time of shell material and rapid dissolution. Even if vents are not exact predictors of the anthropogenic-designed future of marine settings, due to their limited spatial and temporal extent, they can act as natural laboratories where to evaluate the output of ecosystem processes under rising pCO2 and the effects on the creation of the future fossil record.","PeriodicalId":106523,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124649803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
L. Desantis, J. Meachen, Joshua H. Miller, R. Dunn, E. Lindsey, M. Pardi, J. Southon, W. Binder, J. Cohen, F. O’Keefe, Elsa Muller, Elizabeth Hall, Solathus Johnson, Benjamin Fuller, A. Farrell, G. Takeuchi
The end Pleistocene was a time of ecological turmoil, coincident with environmental change, extinctions, and anthropogenic impacts on the landscape. As one of the few persisting predators from the Pleistocene, La Brea’s exceptional record of coyotes (Canis latrans) provides a unique opportunity to clarify how a recently documented ecosystem state-shift impacted survivors. Through a multiproxy analysis of Rancho La Brea coyotes from the past 50,000 years to present, we analyzed over 100 individuals for radiocarbon chronologies, stable isotopes, dental microwear, and morphology to assess the consequences of megafaunal extirpation on these predators. Most notably, coyotes demonstrate a significant decline in δ15Nbone collagen values immediately after the extirpation of megafauna. While this decline is suggestive of a change in diet from more to less meat, stable isotopes of amino acids from a subset of samples instead provide evidence of a baseline shift in nitrogen—indicating large scale changes in the availability of nutritional resources. While coyotes do not demonstrate notable changes in diet across the extirpation boundary, as inferred from stable carbon isotopes in tooth enamel and dental microwear texture analysis, significant shifts in stable oxygen isotopes in δ18Oenamel and δ13Cbone collagen indicate more nuanced changes in potential prey-resources. Coyotes also demonstrate a linear decline in body size that begins prior to the local extirpation of megafauna (~20,000 years ago) and may be in response to competition with larger canids, the decline in large prey, and/or concurrent increases in aridity during this interval. A dramatic increase in scavenging of forested prey (e.g., deer) during the past century stands out as significantly distinct from the dietary niches occupied over the past 50,000 years—implying dramatic impacts of human behavior on coyotes, a recent shift in their ecological role, and the highly adaptable nature of these carnivores.
{"title":"Coyotes Reveal Baseline Nitrogen Decline Across End-Pleistocene Ecosystem Collapse","authors":"L. Desantis, J. Meachen, Joshua H. Miller, R. Dunn, E. Lindsey, M. Pardi, J. Southon, W. Binder, J. Cohen, F. O’Keefe, Elsa Muller, Elizabeth Hall, Solathus Johnson, Benjamin Fuller, A. Farrell, G. Takeuchi","doi":"10.58782/flmnh.qfpe6016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.58782/flmnh.qfpe6016","url":null,"abstract":"The end Pleistocene was a time of ecological turmoil, coincident with environmental change, extinctions, and anthropogenic impacts on the landscape. As one of the few persisting predators from the Pleistocene, La Brea’s exceptional record of coyotes (Canis latrans) provides a unique opportunity to clarify how a recently documented ecosystem state-shift impacted survivors. Through a multiproxy analysis of Rancho La Brea coyotes from the past 50,000 years to present, we analyzed over 100 individuals for radiocarbon chronologies, stable isotopes, dental microwear, and morphology to assess the consequences of megafaunal extirpation on these predators. Most notably, coyotes demonstrate a significant decline in δ15Nbone collagen values immediately after the extirpation of megafauna. While this decline is suggestive of a change in diet from more to less meat, stable isotopes of amino acids from a subset of samples instead provide evidence of a baseline shift in nitrogen—indicating large scale changes in the availability of nutritional resources. While coyotes do not demonstrate notable changes in diet across the extirpation boundary, as inferred from stable carbon isotopes in tooth enamel and dental microwear texture analysis, significant shifts in stable oxygen isotopes in δ18Oenamel and δ13Cbone collagen indicate more nuanced changes in potential prey-resources. Coyotes also demonstrate a linear decline in body size that begins prior to the local extirpation of megafauna (~20,000 years ago) and may be in response to competition with larger canids, the decline in large prey, and/or concurrent increases in aridity during this interval. A dramatic increase in scavenging of forested prey (e.g., deer) during the past century stands out as significantly distinct from the dietary niches occupied over the past 50,000 years—implying dramatic impacts of human behavior on coyotes, a recent shift in their ecological role, and the highly adaptable nature of these carnivores.","PeriodicalId":106523,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114697105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Bahamas sit at the intersection of multiple global change issues emblematic of contemporary Anthropocene conservation challenges. However, the region also has a long and dynamic biocultural history characterized by multiple human migration events associated with species extirpations, extinctions, invasions, and biogeographic rearrangements. This dynamic history informs present day species and ecosystem diversity, as well as societal perceptions of biodiversity conservation. Here, we introduce an interdisciplinary working group focused on the mobilization of paleobiology data and models in support of contemporary conservation agendas and outreach in The Bahamas. Our aims are aligned with global biodiversity goals but are scaled to regional needs. They include: (1) Identify the temporal and spatial scale of human drivers of loss beginning with initial human settlement (ca. AD 700) and through more contemporary time periods; (2) Using these baselines of taxa through time, consider both species-specific conservation and broader ecosystem restoration possibilities; (3) Employ paleobiological data in new modeling and computational approaches to reconstruct ecosystem functions through time and across space to explore possible avenues for “rewilding”; and (4) Ensure equitable benefits of research and conservation implementation. Within the context of these aims, we also discuss both the challenges and great promise of forming a “conservation paleobiology working group” across people with diverse backgrounds and engagement with conservation.
{"title":"Mobilizing Paleobiology to Support Conservation in the Bahamas","authors":"","doi":"10.58782/flmnh.sbmq1125","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.58782/flmnh.sbmq1125","url":null,"abstract":"The Bahamas sit at the intersection of multiple global change issues emblematic of contemporary Anthropocene conservation challenges. However, the region also has a long and dynamic biocultural history characterized by multiple human migration events associated with species extirpations, extinctions, invasions, and biogeographic rearrangements. This dynamic history informs present day species and ecosystem diversity, as well as societal perceptions of biodiversity conservation. Here, we introduce an interdisciplinary working group focused on the mobilization of paleobiology data and models in support of contemporary conservation agendas and outreach in The Bahamas. Our aims are aligned with global biodiversity goals but are scaled to regional needs. They include: (1) Identify the temporal and spatial scale of human drivers of loss beginning with initial human settlement (ca. AD 700) and through more contemporary time periods; (2) Using these baselines of taxa through time, consider both species-specific conservation and broader ecosystem restoration possibilities; (3) Employ paleobiological data in new modeling and computational approaches to reconstruct ecosystem functions through time and across space to explore possible avenues for “rewilding”; and (4) Ensure equitable benefits of research and conservation implementation. Within the context of these aims, we also discuss both the challenges and great promise of forming a “conservation paleobiology working group” across people with diverse backgrounds and engagement with conservation.","PeriodicalId":106523,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125637710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rachel E. B. Reid, Payton Harman, L. Kennedy, Wil Orndorff, Kate E. Langwig
The Appalachian Mountains, one of the most biologically diverse regions in the temperate world, have been heavily altered by human activity for millennia yet the relative roles of human and other disturbances and climate change in creating modern landscapes are not well understood. Holocene paleoenvironmental records could provide a window into past Appalachian landscapes, but are restricted by a dearth of appropriate sites, such as natural lakes. Recent research suggests that bat guano deposits can serve as valuable archives of past environmental change. Carbon isotope (δ13C) values of guano from insectivorous bats can reflect the relative abundance of forest (C3) versus grassland (C4) vegetation at a regional scale, while guano nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values have been linked to landscape-scale N-cycling and precipitation. To investigate the paleoenvironmental history of an Appalachian site in southwest Virginia, we collected a 170 cm guano core from a limestone cave on Salt Pond Mountain. Bats are no longer active in the cave, but recovered bones indicate the past presence of Myotis species. Preliminary results show clear trends of increasing δ15N values and decreasing δ13C values from deep in the core toward the surface. δ13C and δ15N values are also significantly negatively correlated (R2=0.6, p=5.6e-15). The increase in δ15N values may signal a moistening climate toward the present, a finding consistent with regional Holocene pollen records. Higher δ13C values deep in the core likely indicate a greater prevalence of C4 grassland vegetation on the landscape, which could be linked to drier climate, indigenous burning, or both. Increased variation in δ13C and δ15N values below about 65 cm may indicate more variable climate or increased disturbance during the time represented. Forthcoming radiocarbon dates will anchor these trends in time and inform correction for the Suess effect, while other proxies could help disentangle the drivers of landscape change.
{"title":"Preliminary Bat Guano Isotope Evidence for Past Vegetation and Climate Change in Southwest Virginia","authors":"Rachel E. B. Reid, Payton Harman, L. Kennedy, Wil Orndorff, Kate E. Langwig","doi":"10.58782/flmnh.azyz6465","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.58782/flmnh.azyz6465","url":null,"abstract":"The Appalachian Mountains, one of the most biologically diverse regions in the temperate world, have been heavily altered by human activity for millennia yet the relative roles of human and other disturbances and climate change in creating modern landscapes are not well understood. Holocene paleoenvironmental records could provide a window into past Appalachian landscapes, but are restricted by a dearth of appropriate sites, such as natural lakes. Recent research suggests that bat guano deposits can serve as valuable archives of past environmental change. Carbon isotope (δ13C) values of guano from insectivorous bats can reflect the relative abundance of forest (C3) versus grassland (C4) vegetation at a regional scale, while guano nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values have been linked to landscape-scale N-cycling and precipitation. To investigate the paleoenvironmental history of an Appalachian site in southwest Virginia, we collected a 170 cm guano core from a limestone cave on Salt Pond Mountain. Bats are no longer active in the cave, but recovered bones indicate the past presence of Myotis species. Preliminary results show clear trends of increasing δ15N values and decreasing δ13C values from deep in the core toward the surface. δ13C and δ15N values are also significantly negatively correlated (R2=0.6, p=5.6e-15). The increase in δ15N values may signal a moistening climate toward the present, a finding consistent with regional Holocene pollen records. Higher δ13C values deep in the core likely indicate a greater prevalence of C4 grassland vegetation on the landscape, which could be linked to drier climate, indigenous burning, or both. Increased variation in δ13C and δ15N values below about 65 cm may indicate more variable climate or increased disturbance during the time represented. Forthcoming radiocarbon dates will anchor these trends in time and inform correction for the Suess effect, while other proxies could help disentangle the drivers of landscape change.","PeriodicalId":106523,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127900601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Establishing historic conditions of a site is frequently the first step in ecosystem restoration. Whether restoration to historic conditions is possible or not, recognition of change and the cause of change is critical information. Three different wetland restoration problems are addressed by paleo-biological methods. Chrono-stratigraphy was instrumental in all three cases, 210Pb at the decadal and radiocarbon for the century to millennial scale questions. In order to document salinity, change in the Southeast Saline Everglades molluscan assemblages were utilized as a proxy for salinity. Vertical changes in cores established that beginning in ~ 1900 salinity increased with the Anthropocene Marine Transgression. The freshwater-marine contact in all cores was identified and the contacts dated. The differences in time between two adjacent cores and the distance between them was utilized to determine the rate of saltwater encroachment, documenting that not all coastal basins exhibited the same rate and that the rate increased over time in response to the accelerating rate of sea-level rise, increasing from the pre-1960 rate of ~ 20 m yr-1 to > 80 m yr-1 between 1995 and 2017. This shift in regime suggests that present restoration activities are inadequate. Soon after Audubon acquired Corkscrew Swamp to preserve the largest remaining wood stork rookery, the swamp was diked to hold surface water because it was believed that surrounding land development was adversely impacting swamp hydroperiod. However, by 1970 cypress regeneration was severely reduced and hydrology and sediment core studies were initiated in an attempt to understand the driver of the change. Core analysis revealed that hydroperiod increased upwards terminating in patchy open-water peats, based upon pollen analysis, previous peat analysis and tissue recognition. Open-water peats indicate no drawdown, eliminating cypress germination. Cypress regeneration began soon after removal of the dike.
建立一个遗址的历史条件通常是生态系统恢复的第一步。无论是否有可能恢复到历史条件,认识到变化和变化的原因是至关重要的信息。用古生物学方法解决了三种不同的湿地恢复问题。年代地层学在这三个案例中都起到了重要作用,年代际的210Pb和世纪至千年尺度的放射性碳问题。为了记录盐度,我们利用东南盐碱地软体动物群落的变化作为盐度的代表。岩心的垂直变化表明,从1900年开始,盐度随人类世海侵而增加。鉴定了所有岩心的淡水-海水接触,并确定了接触的年代。利用两个相邻岩心之间的时间差异和它们之间的距离来确定海水侵蚀速率,记录了并非所有沿海盆地都表现出相同的速率,并且随着时间的推移,随着海平面上升速度的加快,速率从1960年前的~ 20 m / 1增加到1995年至2017年的> 80 m / 1。这种制度的转变表明,目前的恢复活动是不够的。奥杜邦收购了螺旋沼泽以保护现存最大的木鹳栖息地后不久,沼泽就被筑堤以容纳地表水,因为人们认为周围的土地开发对沼泽水期产生了不利影响。然而,到1970年,柏树再生严重减少,水文和沉积物核心研究开始试图了解变化的驱动因素。基于花粉分析、前期泥炭分析和组织识别,岩心分析表明,在斑片状开放水域泥炭中,水期向上延长。开放水域泥炭表明没有下沉,消除了柏树的发芽。拆除堤坝后不久,柏树开始再生。
{"title":"Paleo-Biological Approaches to Present Day Wetland Ecosystem Restoration Problems","authors":"J. Meeder, P. Stone","doi":"10.58782/flmnh.lixp3848","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.58782/flmnh.lixp3848","url":null,"abstract":"Establishing historic conditions of a site is frequently the first step in ecosystem restoration. Whether restoration to historic conditions is possible or not, recognition of change and the cause of change is critical information. Three different wetland restoration problems are addressed by paleo-biological methods. Chrono-stratigraphy was instrumental in all three cases, 210Pb at the decadal and radiocarbon for the century to millennial scale questions. In order to document salinity, change in the Southeast Saline Everglades molluscan assemblages were utilized as a proxy for salinity. Vertical changes in cores established that beginning in ~ 1900 salinity increased with the Anthropocene Marine Transgression. The freshwater-marine contact in all cores was identified and the contacts dated. The differences in time between two adjacent cores and the distance between them was utilized to determine the rate of saltwater encroachment, documenting that not all coastal basins exhibited the same rate and that the rate increased over time in response to the accelerating rate of sea-level rise, increasing from the pre-1960 rate of ~ 20 m yr-1 to > 80 m yr-1 between 1995 and 2017. This shift in regime suggests that present restoration activities are inadequate. Soon after Audubon acquired Corkscrew Swamp to preserve the largest remaining wood stork rookery, the swamp was diked to hold surface water because it was believed that surrounding land development was adversely impacting swamp hydroperiod. However, by 1970 cypress regeneration was severely reduced and hydrology and sediment core studies were initiated in an attempt to understand the driver of the change. Core analysis revealed that hydroperiod increased upwards terminating in patchy open-water peats, based upon pollen analysis, previous peat analysis and tissue recognition. Open-water peats indicate no drawdown, eliminating cypress germination. Cypress regeneration began soon after removal of the dike.","PeriodicalId":106523,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History","volume":"142 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127504550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
G. Dietl, Stephen R. Durham, Cheryl P. Clark, Rebecca Prado
Over the past decade, many conservation biology researchers and practitioners have turned to knowledge co-production, which prioritizes collaboration between academic and non-academic partners, to increase the impact of science in conservation practice and policy. Co-production promises to produce context-specific knowledge that better aligns with conservation practitioners’ needs and concerns. Here, we argue that the conservation paleobiology community could similarly build collective capacity to engage more effectively in shared “learning spaces” where actionable knowledge is produced. We draw from our experiences with the Historical Oyster Body Size project and lessons learned from other fields to identify key attributes of actionable geohistorical knowledge and the meaningful co-production processes that produced it. Familiarity with these concepts will benefit conservation paleobiologists who aspire to help develop longer lasting, fairer, and more equitable solutions to complex conservation problems presented by a changing world.
{"title":"Coproduction In Conservation Paleobiology: Lessons Learned from the Historical Oyster Body Size Project","authors":"G. Dietl, Stephen R. Durham, Cheryl P. Clark, Rebecca Prado","doi":"10.58782/flmnh.vpbf5634","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.58782/flmnh.vpbf5634","url":null,"abstract":"Over the past decade, many conservation biology researchers and practitioners have turned to knowledge co-production, which prioritizes collaboration between academic and non-academic partners, to increase the impact of science in conservation practice and policy. Co-production promises to produce context-specific knowledge that better aligns with conservation practitioners’ needs and concerns. Here, we argue that the conservation paleobiology community could similarly build collective capacity to engage more effectively in shared “learning spaces” where actionable knowledge is produced. We draw from our experiences with the Historical Oyster Body Size project and lessons learned from other fields to identify key attributes of actionable geohistorical knowledge and the meaningful co-production processes that produced it. Familiarity with these concepts will benefit conservation paleobiologists who aspire to help develop longer lasting, fairer, and more equitable solutions to complex conservation problems presented by a changing world.","PeriodicalId":106523,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127860829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Stephen R. Durham, G. Dietl, J. Handley, Q. Hua, Cheryl Clark, Jaleigh Q. Pier, D. Kaufman
A lack of location-specific, long-term data is a common obstacle to assessing trends in condition of coastal habitats over time. Without historical monitoring records or other documentation, filling such data gaps can be difficult, but sedimentary records such as death assemblages (DAs; the accumulated, identifiable remains of organisms that lived in or near the habitat in the past) are relatively untapped, location-specific archives of ecological information from the past. In 2018, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Paleontological Research Institution began a collaboration to study the use of oyster reef (Crassostrea virginica) DAs to address monitoring information gaps for oyster size. To-date, our project has sampled DAs from over 30 intertidal oyster reefs around Florida, radiocarbon dated most of the samples, and measured over 26,000 oyster shells. In the process, we found that C. virginica DAs are recent and high-resolution archives, with most samples from 15-35cm burial depth dating to within the last 80 years. We also developed a model to combine the DA data with real-time monitoring data on live oyster sizes from the same reefs to estimate reef- and locality-level size trends from as early as the 1960s to the present. This information is adding temporal context for our overwhelmingly short (~5-10 years) and recent (many post-2010) time series of live C. virginica size data. This case study demonstrates the potential utility of DA data for supplementing real-time monitoring data during the assessment and management of coastal habitats.
{"title":"Oyster Death Assemblages as Archives of Historical Information for Studying Long-Term Trends in Oyster Body Size","authors":"Stephen R. Durham, G. Dietl, J. Handley, Q. Hua, Cheryl Clark, Jaleigh Q. Pier, D. Kaufman","doi":"10.58782/flmnh.otub3709","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.58782/flmnh.otub3709","url":null,"abstract":"A lack of location-specific, long-term data is a common obstacle to assessing trends in condition of coastal habitats over time. Without historical monitoring records or other documentation, filling such data gaps can be difficult, but sedimentary records such as death assemblages (DAs; the accumulated, identifiable remains of organisms that lived in or near the habitat in the past) are relatively untapped, location-specific archives of ecological information from the past. In 2018, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Paleontological Research Institution began a collaboration to study the use of oyster reef (Crassostrea virginica) DAs to address monitoring information gaps for oyster size. To-date, our project has sampled DAs from over 30 intertidal oyster reefs around Florida, radiocarbon dated most of the samples, and measured over 26,000 oyster shells. In the process, we found that C. virginica DAs are recent and high-resolution archives, with most samples from 15-35cm burial depth dating to within the last 80 years. We also developed a model to combine the DA data with real-time monitoring data on live oyster sizes from the same reefs to estimate reef- and locality-level size trends from as early as the 1960s to the present. This information is adding temporal context for our overwhelmingly short (~5-10 years) and recent (many post-2010) time series of live C. virginica size data. This case study demonstrates the potential utility of DA data for supplementing real-time monitoring data during the assessment and management of coastal habitats.","PeriodicalId":106523,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130094848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Giant kelp forests of the North Pacific are iconic among cool temperate marine communities. They are also amongst the most productive marine ecosystems, harboring significant biodiversity and supporting coastal economies. The fate of these systems over the next eight decades is uncertain, given the variance of outcomes for global warming scenarios and the complexities of ecological forecasting. There is a growing consensus that giant kelp will be susceptible to warming, leading to a decline of the communities. Kelp forest dynamics, however, are also controlled by biotic interactions. In the North Pacific, the main biotic factors today are kelp herbivory, especially by grazing sea urchins, and predatory control of the urchins, particularly by sea otters and sunflower sea stars. A recent study demonstrated that as late as the 18th century, the now extinct mega herbivore Steller’s sea cow, an obligate kelp browser, had a significant impact on North Pacific kelp forest dynamics. Mathematical models comparing the historical community to modern ones indicated that the sea cow would have increased forest resilience against reductions of predation of urchins caused by multiple types of perturbation. In addition to epidemics and temperature anomalies, it is expected that global temperatures will increase 2-4 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. Here we use the mathematical models to explore forest dynamics under various warming scenarios, including the changing impacts of epidemics and the frequency and intensity of warming anomalies. Preliminary results suggest that in contrast to a stable temperature regime, warming to 4 degrees increases chaotic dynamics, extinction of both sea urchins and sunflower sea stars, and abundance of understory algae. Those results also suggest that chaos and algal increase would be lessened in the presence of the extinct herbivore. These findings bear implications for future kelp forest management, conservation, and human economic exploitation.
{"title":"Giant Kelp Forest Resilience to Ocean Warming; Historical and Modern Systems","authors":"P. Roopnarine, Roxanne Banker, Scott D. Sampson","doi":"10.58782/flmnh.qwtv8848","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.58782/flmnh.qwtv8848","url":null,"abstract":"Giant kelp forests of the North Pacific are iconic among cool temperate marine communities. They are also amongst the most productive marine ecosystems, harboring significant biodiversity and supporting coastal economies. The fate of these systems over the next eight decades is uncertain, given the variance of outcomes for global warming scenarios and the complexities of ecological forecasting. There is a growing consensus that giant kelp will be susceptible to warming, leading to a decline of the communities. Kelp forest dynamics, however, are also controlled by biotic interactions. In the North Pacific, the main biotic factors today are kelp herbivory, especially by grazing sea urchins, and predatory control of the urchins, particularly by sea otters and sunflower sea stars. A recent study demonstrated that as late as the 18th century, the now extinct mega herbivore Steller’s sea cow, an obligate kelp browser, had a significant impact on North Pacific kelp forest dynamics. Mathematical models comparing the historical community to modern ones indicated that the sea cow would have increased forest resilience against reductions of predation of urchins caused by multiple types of perturbation. In addition to epidemics and temperature anomalies, it is expected that global temperatures will increase 2-4 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. Here we use the mathematical models to explore forest dynamics under various warming scenarios, including the changing impacts of epidemics and the frequency and intensity of warming anomalies. Preliminary results suggest that in contrast to a stable temperature regime, warming to 4 degrees increases chaotic dynamics, extinction of both sea urchins and sunflower sea stars, and abundance of understory algae. Those results also suggest that chaos and algal increase would be lessened in the presence of the extinct herbivore. These findings bear implications for future kelp forest management, conservation, and human economic exploitation.","PeriodicalId":106523,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122090484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}